http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:41:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Hi folks, I've just about had enough of chess blogging. If this site disappears in a few days, you'll know why. http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/2010/08/03/264 Overall: A long (four hours+), hard-fought, enjoyable game. I had some inaccuracies in the opening that resulted in awkward positions, but I managed the middle-game maneuvering reasonably well. A mistake at the first time control left me down a pawn in a rook ending with pawns on both sides. I ... http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/2010/07/07/262 Overall: A successful opening for me against the Two Knights Defense. After winning a pawn I forced an early transition to an endgame featuring a potential outside passed a-pawn for me, which eventually won the game. Game board http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/2010/06/24/259 Overall: Not aggressive enough early in the opening. Awkward piece placement coming out of the opening. I think I had the right idea to play more actively in the center in response to Black's queen-side expansion, but I didn't execute it very well. Then I suffered a hallucination, dropping a ... http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/2010/06/16/247 Tonight I played my first tournament game in exactly six months. I lost to a youngster rated almost 200 points higher. I let myself get steamrolled on the queen side. http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/2010/06/15/245 I saw an interesting article [via] in Chess Life Online called "Moving up the Ladder: A Class Player on Gaining 200 Rating Points" by Christian Glawe. Here's a bare-bones summary of the key points: Study your own games with an instructor. Study openings based on pawn structures and plans instead of variations. For ... http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/2010/06/13/242 It continues to be a mystery to me why Chess Life keeps publishing pictures like this (from the January 2010 cover story): http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/2010/01/17/237 As 2009 draws to a close, it looks like I'm going to finish with just 17 or 18 rated tournament games this year. This is about half of what I've done in previous years. Also, in previous years I've played in several Team 45-45 tournaments online, and this year I ... http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/2009/12/10/228 Last month I won a game with an endgame that featured two b-pawns and two c-pawns advancing on a lone b-pawn. Later, when I was trying to get to sleep, I puzzled over the third extra pawn. I could remember winning two of those pawns earlier in the game, but ... http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/2009/11/28/220 I'm doing some tinkering with themes, so this site may look funny for a few days. http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/2009/11/27/218